2.2 The training system and the development of MIITEP

The primary training system consists of six teacher-training
colleges located in different parts of the country. All except two, which are
associated with Churches, are government-owned, and all are responsible to the
MoEST which provides the salaries of staff and stipends for trainees. Table 2.1
below shows the capacity of the primary college system in 1999. The TTCs had
about 175 staff when the data was collected (1999). Staff student ratios varied
from 11:1 to 21:1.

Table 2.1: Number of Lecturers in Colleges and
Nominal Student Capacity 1999

College

Number of lecturers

Number of non-teaching staff

Capacity(Female)

Capacity(Male)

Capacity(Total)

Staff/Student Ratio

BTC

26

35

240

300

540

21

LTC

32

540

540

17

Karonga

28

25

100

200

300

11

Kasungu

28

6

200

400

600

21

St Joseph

23

20

300

300

13

St Montfort

38

450

450

12

Total

175

86

840

1890

2730

16

The MIITEP system shows both continuities and discontinuities
with the past. Teacher education programmes in Malawi have undergone a number of
structural changes in the last ten years, all in the direction of shortening and
condensing the formal period of college-based training in order to meet
increasing demand for new teachers.

At Independence in 1964, the 'normal' training programme was the
two-year residential college course which took entrants with either a Junior
Certificate or a Malawi School Certificate of Education, who qualified
respectively as T3 or T2 teachers. In 1987 a 'crash' one-year in-service initial
course was instituted in one college, to train unqualified but experienced
teachers. This did not meet demand and as a result the Malawi Special Distance
Teacher Education Programme (MASTEP) was set up in 1989 to train teachers
on-the-job through a combination of short residential courses, local seminars,
and distance learning methods. This was discontinued after 3 years, and replaced
by a programme of one year's field training followed by one year's residential
course in a college (Hauya 1997, Kunje and Lewin 2000). MIITEP is a successor to
these innovations designed to address the explosion in demand for primary
teachers since FPE.

In 1995 the new government entered into discussions with the
World Bank and the German Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) about
certifying the 'untrained temporary teachers', about 20,000 of whom had been
recruited as part of the FPE initiative. MoEST personnel were sent to look at
other training programmes within the region (e.g. in Zambia and Zimbabwe) to see
how similar problems had been tackled. The GTZ emerged as the professional
training partner for MIITEP. Once the decision was taken, the programme was
worked out, staffed and implemented by Malawians, with one or two German
consultants. A Teacher Development Unit (TDU) was set up within the MoEST, and
project implementation was co-ordinated from there.

The details of the MIITEP training system and aspects of its
current status are described in detail in a number of documents (e.g. Bude et al
1995, GTZ 1995, DSE 1998, Malawi Integrated Inservice Teacher Education
Programme 1997a,b and c, and 1998, Stuart and Kunje 2000, Kunje and Lewin 2000).
In brief the programme consists of a one term residential course followed by
four or five terms of supervised teaching in schools. In the sixth term trainees
attend a one month residential block which includes final examinations. The
original profile of planned activity is shown below.

In essence trainees following a conventional college-based
programme in the first phase complete with a minimal teaching practice.
Subsequently they return to schools (usually the ones where they have been
teaching as untrained teachers) and follow a self-study programme based on tasks
set by the Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB). The curriculum both in the
colleges and during the school-based training is based on the Student Teacher
Handbooks developed by MIITEP. In school they are supposed to receive advice and
guidance from trained teachers, and college tutors are supposed to visit
occasionally. They also have to attend zonal workshops and complete a series of
assignments and projects which are sent to the Colleges for assessment. The last
period in College is a residential block leading to a final examination. At the
same time as changing the mode through which teacher training took place MIITEP
materials make clear that the ambition is to produce teachers who will be more
effective in the classroom and adopt new methods of teaching. The intention was
that more emphasis would be given to pedagogic strategies that put the child at
the centre of learning activities, reduced the amount of recall-based learning
in favour of that focused at higher cognitive levels, and enhanced the
achievement of basic skills related to literacy and numeracy.

MIITEP recruited cohorts from those enrolled in the emergency
training programme in place between 1994-6. Six cohorts were selected by 1997
totalling about 15,000 trainees. Three subsequent cohorts (7, 8, and 9) were
planned to train the remaining untrained teachers recruited at this time.
Selection criteria for the first cohort were: the MSCE certificate, a minimum of
two years' teaching experience (one year for females), and attendance at the
initial orientation course. For the second and following cohorts, a JCE was
accepted as an alternative, with priority given to those teaching longest. Table
2.3 shows the numbers of trainees in each cohort.

Table 2.3: Distribution of MIITEP Trainees
across Cohorts

Cohort

Total

1

2330

2

2636

3

2526

4

2491

5

2494

6

2611

Total

15067

Untrained

8439

Grand Total

23506

As fieldwork was being conducted for this study the sixth cohort
were beginning their training, and the others were at later stages. Cohort 1 was
planned to complete in February 1999. This study used data from across the
cohorts for different parts of the data collection.

In summary MIITEP functions in an environment where resources
are scarce, infrastructure is weak and the demands placed on the training system
are large. There was little investment in the College system during the previous
decade, though there were several changes in the training curriculum and its
pattern of delivery, each of which required adjustment to new practices. Though
conceptually MIITEP is fairly simple, this belies the complexity associated with
its implementation. A wide range of inputs are needed - teaching, supervision,
handbooks, support for assignments, marking, school visits etc - all of which
require co-ordinating and financing effectively and in a timely way. The
remaining chapters in this report present insights from different parts of the
data collected between 1997 and 2000, and investigate the extent to which the
realisation of MIITEP matched its
aspirations.